Amid an economic crisis brought on by a coronavirus pandemic and heated nationwide protests over the death of a black man in police custody, voters in eight states and the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., stood in line Tuesday to cast their ballots in party nominating contests for U.S House and Senate seats Tuesday.
One of the most notable races occurred in Iowa, where veteran conservative Representative Steve King was defeated in his bid for re-election by state Senator Randy Feenstra. King has gained notoriety since he was first elected to Congress in 2003 over his strident anti-abortion stance and his racist comments, especially towards undocumented immigrants. His political future was thrown into doubt after his defense of white supremacy led Republican leaders to strip him of his committee assignments in January 2019, a status which made him irrelevant.
Valerie Plame
Another prominent figure who fell short was Valerie Plame, the former CIA agent whose identity was revealed by a top aide to then-Vice President Dick Cheney after her husband, Ambassador Joe Wilson, publicly raised doubts about the administration’s reasons for invading Iraq.
Plame was soundly defeated in her campaign for the Democratic nomination for a House seat in New Mexico by Teresa Leger Fernandez, a civil rights lawyer with deep ties to the district.
Ferguson, Missouri makes history
Meanwhile, a local race that caught national attention was held in Ferguson, Missouri, where voters elected Ella Jones as the city’s first African-American and first woman mayor.
Ferguson became a flashpoint for race relations and police mistreatment of blacks in 2014 after the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown during a confrontation with a white police officer. Jones’s election comes amid nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd, a black man whose death while being arrested by white police officers in Minneapolis was caught on cellphone video.
Biden inches closer to clinching nomination
And former Vice President Joe Biden moved closer to formally securing the Democratic presidential nomination after winning several state primary elections Tuesday. Biden has been the presumptive nominee since winning the South Carolina primary in February after winning the endorsement of prominent African-American Representative Jim Clyburn.
